December 30, 2009

• Avatar (3D IMAX)

  several times a year the Hype Machine goes on full tilt, revving at dangerous speeds, ready to spin itself out of the universe of relevancy.  this is one of those times.  i can hear the pistons pumping, all in high-pitched unison screaming about the spectacle that is AVATAR.  and what a grand spectacle it is. 

  james cameron poured everything he had for over a decade into this and delivered his crowning achievement, the work that should define his career.  everything that’s been said about it is true: Avatar is a fantastically fun film that has redefined film animation.  it has a serviceable plot that trots along the film’s unexpectedly quick 2 hour 40 minute run time, and gives just enough backbone to support the many brain-bustingly amazing visual moments that litter the film throughout. 

  Avatar takes place on the planet Pandora where a US corporation is trying to remove the indigenous humanoid population, the N’Avi, to make room for a large scale operation mining the mineral “Unobtainium”.  The avatars are the human/n’avi genetic hybrids that act as physical proxies for the humans to interact with the n’avi since the atmosphere on Pandora is toxic to humans.  the only catch is that the avatar bodies have to be linked to actual humans via electronic link.  i.e. they need drivers.  Jake Sully is a crippled Marine who is uniquely qualified to drive an avatar and finds himself in a position to talk to the n’avi and talk them into leaving their home voluntarily.  if they don’t, the marines will come in and force them out. 

  it’s an old story that you’ve seen 100 times before with the same characters you’re familiar with.  there’s nothing new here.  big bad white men come to kick out the peaceful, indigenous “savages” by force.  if you saw the trailer and thought “that looks just like Dances with Wolves.”  you’re right.  it is exactly Dances with Wolves.  except with much bigger guns, a cool, alien setting and new technology.  it’s also notably missing a whining kevin costner. 

  that plain jane-ness the story is guilty of is actually apparent in many other aspects of the film as well.  the story and characters are all formulaic and predictable, but surprisingly so were many of the sci-fi elements.  it seems that james cameron dedicated every grain of his imagination to the execution of the film, rather than the conceptualization and design of it.  i was quite disappointed to see that even on the blank slate that is the alien world Pandora, the horses look very much like horses, the dogs like dogs, the dinosaurs like dinosaurs, and the native american stand-ins behave just like old hollywood native americans.  that’s not to say that i’m disappointed with how things looked.  i’m not.  things looked awesome and i’ll get into that in a second, but on a conceptual level i found the entire film underwhelming.  throw in several spots of cheesy dialogue and acting, and it makes you wonder how i think this film is likeable at all.  but it is and this is why.

  even though the Pandoran horse looks like an earth horse, it’s rendered with such attention to detail with its bulging muscles and textured skin.  that’s what i mean by cameron’s superlative execution of the film.  the n’avi faces are completely computer generated but are so much more emotive than any humanoid face we’re used to seeing in an animated film.  you can treat them like real characters rather than like some drawn-in place holders.  exploding trees have real bark.  animals lunge with weight.  the action scenes look like real people and animals wrestling with each other.  colors pop.  also, and this is really important — by bending the real world elements to look like animation and making animated elements look more real, we’re now closer than ever to blending in CGI seamlessly.  watching all these amazing new elements whoosh and holler around each other was really a delight.  and all in 3D no less!

  james cameron veterans will also note the repeat appearances of the many gadgets and characters he’s used over the years.  they’re like little easter eggs or inside jokes.  this includes his love affair with future military, which is abundant and a major cool factor in this film.  those dual-rotor helicopters and the hulking exoskeletons are beautiful realizations of ideas he’s played with in the past.  as are the vibrant and gorgeous colors he splashed everywhere in the night scenes.  The Abyss anyone? 

  and even though i’ll mention the unadventurous plot and characters, they aren’t ever bad, (like say in 300 or Transformers) so they never distract from the film’s rather sizeable assets.  lithe, blue cat people chasing after each other on the backs of pterodactyls.  attack helicopters shooting rockets with smoke trails.  silky, vibrant, glow-in-the-dark flowers snapping in the dark.  now that’s the stuff!

  • 4:05 pm
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